For all of her ditziness, at 20 Hachi has done a hell of a lot more with her life than I have.
If you haven’t piloted a robot by 14, I suppose, you’re not cut out for adventurous living …

Spoilers

Hachi spends the night with Takumi. She prays desperately that it won’t be a one night stand, but she does not tell anyone about it. Likewise, Takumi tells no one about her.

It’s becoming increasingly distressing that all of the voice overs from Hachi at the episodes’ ends imply that her life has gone on to suck greatly, and that Nana has been her only shining light. This attitude didn’t quite permeate the entire episode, but it was quite strange to imagine that she was having bad thoughts about herself even as she was having sex with Takumi.
The low self esteem of Hachi, hidden by her usually frenetic nature, is another thing of the show that I would term “heartbreaking”.
Depressing shoujo, my friends. Depressing.

The surprise of the episode was Shouji’s appearance. I’m not quite sure how these things go: would it be a salve to Hachi that Shouji is serious about Sachiko – perhaps more so than he ever was about her – or is it just a slap in the face? Of course, if Junko and Kyosuke never tell her, there’s no way that she will know. I think that is the way it should stay.

Finally, on the Hirano Aya front: she moves her head too much and it freaks the heck out of me!